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News and Comment August 2017

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30 August - Mock outrage from one, delusion from the other

TweetSoon after the local election in 2014 with Bexley Conservatives safely back in power they began cutting services right left and centre. One was street tree planting, they said they would not do any more. If a resident wanted their street tree replaced after a road traffic accident, a fatal drought or vandalism, (s)he would have to stump up £230.

You can still read about it on the Bexley Times website although somehow or other it passed largely unnoticed by Bonkers.

Residents who don’t attend Council meetings - that’s pretty much everyone - will not be aware that with another election approaching tree planting is one of the cuts that Bexley Council is back tracking on.

In March this year Cabinet Member Peter Craske announced a raft of back tracking policies, among them the reversal of the no tree policy. He planned to plant 200 of the things later this year.

Most residents will not know that because very little has been said about it and the tree planting programme is still some way off.

However Councillor Craske clearly feels somewhat indignant that residents are unaware of one of his election winning stunts.


TweetI was pleased to see that some fly tipping was cleared up somewhere within the hour but not so pleased that when I took the trouble to take photos of someone filling one of the large street bins with builder’s rubble the useless Steve Didsbury took no action whatsoever, even when specifically asked to do so by my ward Councillor.

It’s probably not reciprocated but I quite like Councillor Craske, he is a showman and good entertainment and since his brush with the law avoids the most blatant of lies.

Not so his colleague Philip Read.


TweetI have no real doubt that this morning’s Tweet was aimed at me although it is hard to make sense of it

I don’t think the Northumberland Numpty has any idea what a troll is. I rarely contribute to other people’s Twitter posts but consider it legitimate to ask local Conservatives to justify the more outageous of their claims or provide source data. Never once have they been able to do so. Much easier to simply manufacture another lie.

Where Read gets the idea I am a Labour troll from I have no idea. Utterly ridiculous, no time for Corbyn, no time for Blair and as for consulting with Labour Councillors, even more ridiculous. One lives in the next street to me. Seen him five or six times over several years and never got beyond discussing the weather or health issues.

I told Danny Hackett (one of my ward Councillors) about the local traders’ request for an Alcolhol Free Zone on 10th August because Wilton Road is on his patch too but so far no formal reply. (See footnote.)

When Conservatives suggested that no Labour Councillor attended the formal opening of The Belvedere Beach I asked Labour Leader Daniel Francis if that was true - it wasn’t.

In June I updated Stefano Borella (Labour, North End) on a police investigation in which he has an interest for which he thanked me but apart from the foregoing there has been no contact with Labour Councillors this year.

Sometimes it would be really helpful if I could contact someone on the Labour side for confirmation of a date or vague recollection that a search on Bonkers will not satisfy, but no such relationship exists.

And as for checking things out with the Numpty himself as he suggests, has he forgotten that he blocked me on Twitter the day I made my first comment?

Note: Murphy’s Law, Danny has just responded to the Traders’ request.

 

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